Sloths

This passage discusses sloths and how they live.

Lexile Level: 910L

Categories: Animals & Nature


Most people think of turtles when they think of slow animals, but the sloth is even slower. A land turtle can move about 15 feet in a minute, whereas the sloth moves only about 7 feet a minute. They spend most of their lives hanging upside down in trees and sleeping about 15 to 18 hours a day. They even eat, mate, and give birth while hanging from trees. They only come down about once a week to go to the bathroom! Sloths blend in with the trunks of trees, making them hard for jaguars and other predators to spot. Algae growing on their fur help hide them too. Not only does a sloth move slowly, it eats slowly and needs a week to digest a meal. Sloths are mammals, and they are also herbivores. They eat leaves, small trees, and fruit. Since sloths use so little energy, they don't need to eat and drink much. There are five species of sloth, including the two-toed sloth and the three-toed sloth. Sloths are about 1.5 to 2 feet long with a stumpy tail. They live in Central and South America.


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